Tag Archives: particle physics
The hunt for supersymmetry: Is a choke on the cards?
As scientists have progressed by leaps and bounds in making discoveries and confirming new ideas, they have been disappointed by how one of their favorite theories has been unable to post a positive status update in… years. Continue reading
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Tagged Advanced Cold Molecule Electron, bosons, dark matter, electron dipole moment, fermions, Higgs boson, Large Hadron Collider, mesons, particle physics, Project X, Standard Model, Steven Weinberg, superspace, supersymmetry
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An elusive detector for an elusive particle
The delay of a go-ahead from the Cabinet for an indigenously designed neutrino detector is demoralizing for scientists because it could turn investors away. Continue reading
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Tagged India-based Neutrino Observatory, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Kolar Gold Fields, Masatoshi Koshiba, neutrino physics, particle physics
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The literature of metaphysics (or, ‘Losing your marbles’ )
For a while now, I’ve been intent on explaining stuff from particle physics. A lot of it is intuitive if you go beyond the mathematics and are ready to look at packets of energy as extremely small marbles. And then, … Continue reading
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Tagged abstraction, equations, mathematics, natural philosophy, particle physics, systems
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Another window on ‘new physics’ closes
The Standard Model of particle physics is a theory that has been pieced together over the last 40 years after careful experiments. It accurately predicts the behaviour of various subatomic particles across a range of situations. Even so, it’s not … Continue reading
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Tagged B_s meson, CMS, LHCb, particle decay, particle physics, Standard Model, subatomic particles
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A different kind of experiment at CERN
This article, as written by me, appeared in The Hindu on January 24, 2012. — At the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland, experiments are conducted by many scientists who don’t quite know what they will see, … Continue reading
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Tagged AEgIS, ALPHA, antimatter, antiproton decelerator, CERN, gravity, particle physics
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The strong CP problem: We’re just lost
Unsolved problems in particle physics are just mind-boggling. They usually concern nature at either the smallest or the largest scales, and the smaller the particle whose properties you’re trying to decipher, the closer you are to nature’s most fundamental principles, … Continue reading
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Tagged CP violation, particle physics, strong CP problem, weak interaction
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Window for an advanced theory of particles closes further
A version of this article, as written by me, appeared in The Hindu on November 22, 2012. — On November 12, at the first day of the Hadron Collider Physics Symposium at Kyoto, Japan, researchers presented a handful of results … Continue reading
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Tagged B meson decay modes, dimuon decay, Hadron Collider Physics Symposium, Large Hadron Collider, LHCb, particle physics, Standard Model, supersymmetry
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Signs of a slowdown
The way ahead for particle physics seems dully lit after CERN’s fourth-of-July firecracker. The Higgs announcement got everyone in the physics community excited – and spurred a frenzied submission of pre-prints all rushing to explain the particle’s properties. However, that … Continue reading
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Tagged future, Higgs mechanism, LHC, particle physics, supersymmetry, symmetry-breaking
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A dilemma of the auto-didact
If publishers could never imagine that there are people who could teach themselves particle physics, why conceive cheaper preliminary textbooks and ridiculously expensive advanced textbooks? Learning vector physics for classical mechanics costs Rs. 245 while progressing then to analytical mechanics … Continue reading
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Tagged education, LHC, particle physics, prohibitive costs, self-teaching, textbooks, ubiquity
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The Indian Bose in the universal boson
Read this article. Do you think Indians are harping too much about the lack of mention of Satyendra Nath Bose’s name in the media coverage of the CERN announcement last week? The articles in Hindustan Times and Economic Times seemed … Continue reading
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Tagged Colonialism, media, particle physics, Peter Higgs, Priyamvada Natarajan, Satyendra Nath Bose
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